Friday, March 27, 2009

Beer O’Clock: “You forgot the hops, bro.”

A couple of expat Australians living in Hawkes Bay have some friendly advice for NZ’s mainstream brewers: You forgot the hops, bro.

Dear Brewers,

There are four ingredients in beer: water, malted barley, hops, and yeast.

Sure, some of you, especially the bigger operations, probably add a whole bunch of preservatives and other additives that I’d rather remain ignorant of, but basic beer brewing requires just those four things.

Water, malted barley, hops, and yeast.

Notice anything?

No? Then let me point it out to you.

HOPS.

Please use some.

Regards, Fush ‘n’ Chups Admin

You’d think the friendly advice would be appreciated. A “spokeswoman” from DB, however, took the bait.

"They can't be serious," she said. "We've got some of the best beer in the world."

DB, by the way, are the “brewers” of Tui. That’s how “serious” they are.

5 Comments:

Good on those Aussies. Fortunately for us, there is excellent beer here, but you can hardly blame the piss-takers in question for not noticing, sewn up as this country is with the piss-weak output from DB and Lion Nathan.

Aaah, Coopers. In particular, Coopers Pale Ale. One of the perks of living in Australia is that there's a lot of good beer here - even a lot of the cheaper stuff (like Coopers) is pretty good.

Dunno if you can get any of the Grand Ridge in NZ ... if so give it a whirl, very nice. Also Pepperjack do a very interesting ale that's fortified with their shiraz. I'm not normally into 'adulterated beers' but that one is very tasty.

The downside though is that beer is taxed up the ass compared with beer in NZ. Or maybe that's a Victorian thing, rather than an Australian thing ... either way it's bloody annoying.

But, oddly, good malt whisky is surprisingly affordable compared with NZ - think ~ AUD$100 for a bottle of Lagavulin 16 (Julian & PC - you remember Lagavulin don't you? I believe I still owe Julian for that surprisingly expensive round back in Auckland ...)

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Comments on this post

Beer O’Clock: “You forgot the hops, bro.”
Good on those Aussies. Fortunately for us, there is excellent beer here, but you can hardly blame the piss-takers in question for not noticing, sewn up as this country is with the piss-weak output from DB and Lion Nathan.

I will be opening a bottle of Ommegang Abbey Ale, and will serve it in a chalice of course.
Aaah, Coopers. In particular, Coopers Pale Ale. One of the perks of living in Australia is that there's a lot of good beer here - even a lot of the cheaper stuff (like Coopers) is pretty good.

Dunno if you can get any of the Grand Ridge in NZ ... if so give it a whirl, very nice. Also Pepperjack do a very interesting ale that's fortified with their shiraz. I'm not normally into 'adulterated beers' but that one is very tasty.

The downside though is that beer is taxed up the ass compared with beer in NZ. Or maybe that's a Victorian thing, rather than an Australian thing ... either way it's bloody annoying.

But, oddly, good malt whisky is surprisingly affordable compared with NZ - think ~ AUD$100 for a bottle of Lagavulin 16 (Julian & PC - you remember Lagavulin don't you? I believe I still owe Julian for that surprisingly expensive round back in Auckland ...)
Beer is now forbidden to me buggrit!
Coopers Pale Ale was the only non-lager amongst the obvious "craft" beers on a recent visit to an Aussie bottle store. It were alright, thankfully.